{% include "includes/auth/janrain/signIn_traditional.html" with message='It looks like you are already verified. If you still have trouble signing in, you probably need a new confirmation link email.' %}

Log in to Manage yourProfile and Account

Jake Long has inside track to the Pro Bowl

DAVIE – Dolphins left tackle Jake Long has cleared the first hurdle on his way to his second Pro Bowl.

Fan voting ended Tuesday with Long the leading vote-getter among AFC tackles, holding a lead of more than 10,000 votes (286,482 to 275,709) over Cincinnati’s Andrew Whitworth.

Fan, coach and player voting each count one-third of the voting process.

Long, who played well in last year’s game as an alternate for injured Jason Peters, will find out next Tuesday if he’ll represent the Dolphins as one of three AFC offensive tackles on Jan. 31 in South Florida.

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano isn’t allowed to vote for his own players, but he endorsed Long’s level of play this season.

Long got off to a rough start, allowing two sacks in a season-opening loss at Atlanta. But Sparano said Long has steadily improved, culminating with one of his best games last week against Tennessee defensive end Kyle Dale Vanden Bosch, a two-time Pro Bowler.

“He’s gotten better and better and better,” said Sparano, a longtime offensive line coach before he joined the Dolphins in 2008. “I was really impressed with the way Jake played in that ballgame last week. Really impressed.

“That was a good old backyard fight between him and No. 93. That was really good.”

Long is the only Dolphin fans voted into the game. Coaches and players will vote this week.

Linebacker Joey Porter did finish fourth among outside linebackers, proving the popularity and familiarity aspect of the vote.

Porter, a four-time Pro Bowler, has battled injuries and has eight sacks, 36 tackles and one forced fumble, a severe drop-off from his 17 1/2-sack season in 2008.

Besides Long, the Dolphins players with the best cases for a Pro Bowl bid might be defensive linemen Randy Starks, who has been the Dolphins’ most-consistent defensive player. He is fifth on the team with 49 tackles, just trailing inside linebackers Channing Crowder (52) and Akin Ayodele (56).

Starks’ six sacks are third on the team and tied for eighth among AFC defensive linemen. But many of those linemen aren’t responsible to occupy blockers and stop the run, like Starks.

Starks also made huge plays at the end of wins against the Jets, Patriots and Jaguars.

Fullback Lou Polite is another unsung Dolphin who might be putting together a Pro Bowl-worthy season. Polite has been a bruising blocker and has converted 3rd-and-1 or 4th-and-1 situations 14 times in 14 tries.

But Sparano didn’t want to campaign for anybody.

“To be honest with you, I feel like we have a lot of guys that played pretty well,” Sparano said.

When asked about strong safety Yeremiah Bell, Sparano spoke glowingly of his leading tackler, with 102 stops, including 1 1/2 sacks. Bell led the team with 120 tackles in 2008, but was not among the three safeties selected to the Pro Bowl.

Bell has an interception and seven passes defensed, but also has struggled defending some of the game’s top tight ends.

“I thought last year he played pretty, but I think the guy is really playing good football right now,” Sparano said. “All I know when we’re playing against some of these safeties in our league, Yeremiah makes as much of an impact out there.